See navarro answer fans' questions graciously and patiently at the Players Open Day at the Tenerife last week – you would never have imagined that she was diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago.
Today, Navarro is no longer a cancer patient, but a healthy player. She is about to end her tennis career at the age of 33. It all went as she wished.
Speaking about learning of her own Hodgkin lymphoma in September 2020, she said: "The idea of retiring was not in my mind, but in that moment it could have been an option. You never know if you'll be able to recover or heal. ”
"I'm trying to get physically strong and get back on the field through treatment. I noticed that my body was getting better. Then, decommissioning in 2021 looks like it's possible. After completing a career like mine, it's a personal challenge for me to set myself up and try to achieve. ”
Navarro is a member of the Spanish team, which also includes Tomo. The Billie Jean King Cup kicked off on Monday at Spain's O2 Stadium, which was the venue for the Confederations Cup 13 years ago.
Doctors told her it seemed impossible to return to the field this year. And she hasn't played in months due to the global pandemic, so how will her 2021 season really go?
"I was a little sad at first," Navarro said, "but I wasn't surprised." These are the diseases we see every day. Many families are dealing with them and we will be affected as well. I try to behave normally and stay calm. The doctor gave me hope and confidence. I followed their advice from day one and everything went smoothly. "You try to be positive and strong. It's your body that's sick and there's nothing I can do but accept it calmly. ”
Over the course of four months of treatment, Navarro underwent eight painful chemotherapy treatments. After checking to make sure her immune system was functioning properly, chemotherapy began for up to three hours. Navarro spent this time reading, watching movies, playing chess, and even sleeping. Those three hours were the easy part, and the hard part was that when she got home, she started to feel nauseous, gagging and tired. Then, 15 days later, the cycle was played out again.
A miracle happened, and she recovered quickly. Looking back, she says, the people around her, their positive attitudes, and the love they conveyed to her all fueled her physical recovery. It could also have something to do with the unique resilience Navarro has shown throughout his career and on the pitch. After all, her idols are Graf, Heinen, Hewitt and Jordan — athletes known for their tenacity.
Notably, her debut in the Main Slam tournament was at the 2008 French Open, where she reached the quarter-finals of Roland Garros – the first of her seven career grand slam quarterfinals. In 2014, she won her first WTA title in Oeiras, Portugal, and a second in Doha two years later. In her career, she reached the finals nine times, including Miami and Rome in 2015. In 2016, she raised her ranking to sixth in the world.
"I was lucky enough to play on the WTA Tour for many years and create some great memories," she said. "If I had to pick one, I would pick the 2008 French Open, which is my first time playing at a Grand Slam. I made it through the qualifiers and beat Maurismo, losing to world number two Jankovic in the quarterfinals.
In the first round of the 2021 French Open, Navarro played for the first time in 15 months, pushing Grand Slam champion Stephens to the brink of elimination, losing 6-3, 6-7 (4), 4-6. Perhaps even more memorable was the first round at Wimbledon, in which she played three sets with eventual Wimbledon champion and world number one Barty. "It's a challenge for me to myself," Navarro said. "I want to make it happen. I don't want people to remember my name because of cancer that ends their tennis career. I want to prove myself that I can achieve it and retire as I expect, as I imagined. Like I did this year, play tennis in the biggest tournaments. "There's one more thing to do. Spain is a five-time Confederations Cup winner and reached the final in Madrid in 2008, when Navarro made his debut.
After that, Navarro's life also became more colorful. She lives in Barcelona and spends a lot of time with her parents as well as her brother. "I want to enjoy life with them and do something different after doing the same thing (playing tennis) for a long time," she said. "I would love to continue traveling and gain insight into Spain." Continuing to play tennis is not in my plan, but I will never say goodbye to a sport that has given me so much. I want to continue to explore the world. I have a charity project and I hope we can all start helping those who need to be helped. To that end, she urges aspirants to invest in cancer research, including WTA's ACEing Cancer Campaign.
"Investment and research are essential," she said. "This disease has taken a lot of lives and many families are struggling. It may be difficult to completely defeat cancer, but we must support medical research to get more effective treatments. If medical research is financially supported, they may find some solutions, which will be good news for many people.
"I would say thank you for your efforts and for helping those who are really struggling. Without these researchers, we might not have been cured. They work around the clock to make our lives better. Finally, I would also like to thank the funders for your contributions to the research, and it is your generosity that makes the world more possible. (Source: House of Tennis Translated by: Ai Feng)
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